Sometimes you have to have luck on your side before a product becomes successful. Such was the case with the Gabba raincoat from the clothing brand Castelli.
From 2009 Castelli started with the Cervélo TestTeam which included Serge Pauwels, a collaboration to develop cycling clothing that should protect the riders against the most extreme weather conditions such as heavy rain, freezing cold, wind and snow.
One of the garments was a raincoat called Gabba of which the TestTeam was very excited. Reason enough to put it on the market in early 2010. Initially, the expected success was not forthcoming, but Castelli continued to have confidence in the product as all the riders on the Cervélo TestTeam were very positive.
And they were right, because during the exploration of the race De Omloop het Volk, where the weather conditions were not good, the Gabba rain jackets of the Garmin Cervélo team (the successor of Cervélo TestTeam) were noticed and riders of competing teams asked them where the jackets came from.
The result is that from then on more and more professional cyclists bought a Gabba raincoat directly from Castelli, but because their cycling team was not sponsored by Castelli, they marked the name and logo with a black marker.
After a while, Castelli provided also the other teams with the Gabba raincoat, despite not sponsoring them, and added a black marker. By the end of 2012, more than half of the professional riders had a Gabba raincoat in the back pocket of their cycling jersey in case of rain.
However, the general public was not yet aware of this revolutionary product, but that was changed by a fluke.
Milaan Sanremo 2013
The 2013 edition of the Milan Sanremo cycling race is one that will be always remembered. The weather was terrible: wind, rain, freezing cold and even snow. The conditions were so bad that after 100km the race was interrupted and all riders in their team buses were taken over the climbs of the Turchino and the Le Manie. At that moment 6 riders were ahead with a 7 minute lead
Just after the mountains, the peloton got back on their bikes, after some confusion, and the race continued. The front runners regained their 7 minute lead but were still overtaken by the chasing peloton driven by Cannondale Pro Cycling and Team Sky ProCycling.
The race was won by Gerard Ciolek who beat Peter Sagan and Fabian Cancellara in the sprint.
At the start a number of riders (including those from AG2R, FDJ, Omega Pharma - Quick Step) were wearing their marked Gabba raincoat. Dozens more were added during the game. Because the race was broadcast live, these jackets received quite a lot of attention from the press and the spectator was also trusted with them.
Ag2R and FDJ riders at the start with the Castelli logo highlighted in black - photo cyclingtips.com
More and more cycling teams contacted Castelli to supply them with Gabba raincoats and therefore Castelli decided in early 2014 to release the Pro Edition Gabba The only difference from the standard Gabba was that there was a black marker in the packaging that allowed the teams to color the letters and Castelli logo black so that they were no longer visible.
The packing box of the Castelli Gabba Pro Edition with the supplied black marker
A myth is born
The Castelli Gabba raincoat has been a revolution in the development of cycling clothing against extreme weather conditions and has finally liberated the cycling world from the plastic raincoats that were completely non-aerodynamic and that made the riders look exactly like a Michelin advertising doll.
The Gabba is now in its 4th generation and is also available in other colors than just black.
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